See You Next Sometime
by Velvet95
Summary: From a Tumblr prompt: "A friendship between a time traveler and an immortal. Wherever the time traveler ends up, the immortal is there to catch her up to speed." A tale of the Wayhaught.


**[AN] They were old friends. The oldest really. Like really old. Like almost three thousand years' worth...**

* * *

The bartender sighed. He was tired and really wanted to close up early but he had one customer that seemed determined to stay until official close of business. He grumbled quietly to himself and poured himself a shot of his favorite whiskey.

If he had to wait he thought he might as well enjoy himself. At least his sole customer was a beautiful brunette.

To his extreme annoyance the door banged open and revealed a new customer. Another beauty, a red-head. Another reason he didn't get to get home to his easy chair and his DVR recording of the Cubs opener against Baltimore.

Seeing the second woman join the first without a glance his way he snorted, then turned and flipped on the TV. A whiskey or two and maybe the last half of a west coast game broadcast would get him through to close.

—

The sole patron, Waverly, had been staring out the grimy window of the bar, increasingly nervous as the night wore on. There were two glasses of wine before her, dark red and as yet untouched. By all appearances she was somewhere in her twenties, with a slight build and waist-length hair. She looked around her with an air of extreme interest, as a tourist might.

At the appearance of the tall red-headed woman at the bar's door, she visibly relaxed and nodded to the chair across from her. "I thought you weren't going to come."

The woman sank down and shrugged off her overcoat, shaking loose her damp braid to dry out her hair.

"When have I ever missed a meeting?"

Waverly raised one eyebrow as she lifted her glass. "October 18, 1745. You insisted I had to try the coq au vin at your new favorite restaurant in Paris and you stood me up!"

The woman spluttered around her mouthful of wine. "You were a year late showing up at Au Chien Qui Fume! Nobody hold reservations that long."

"Once! That happened once!" Waverly waved her hand dismissively. "Surely I'm allowed to miss a calculation once in my career."

They smiled at each other, then clinked their glasses with a flourish.

"To old friends," intoned Waverly.

"The oldest," the woman nodded.

A long swallow and a moment of appreciation of the flavor of the wine, Waverly leaned forward. "Okay, Nikoleta of Akrotiri, give. What have you been up to?"

"The name's Nicole now, actually," the red-head smiled. "And I've been doing the usual."

"Nicole," said Waverly thoughtfully. "It lacks the musicality of your real name, but I suppose it's close enough I'll find it easy enough to remember." She took another swallow of wine. "And at least I showed up on the right day this time."

"Small favors."

"Less harassment and more detail please," Waverly groused.

"Well, served as a motorcycle courier in France for the First World War, and as a medic in England for the Second.

"There were _two?_ " Waverly interrupted, aghast.

Nicole nodded grimly. "I haven't experienced a century this bad since the sack of Rome."

"This world gets more violent all the time," sighed Waverly and dropped her eyes. "Enough bad news. Tell me some fun things you've been doing!"

Nicole placed her glass down and leaned forward, her face gleeful.

"Well, I was still kicking around England at the time, and there was a ridiculous boy band from Liverpool of all places…"

—

They sat on the sand, their backs to the wall separating the beach from the parking lot. They're watched as the sun rose over Lake Michigan, the sky sliding from violet to pink to blue. Words had ceased to be of importance hours before, and now they merely sat together, grateful for each other's company.

Finally Nicole stirred. "So," she began, then paused.

"Net yet," Waverly responded, knowing exactly what the other woman was trying to ask. "I haven't figured it out yet. I'm going to get pulled back in a few hours." She turned and took Nicole's hands in her own, then took a deep breath. "I hate this so much. When I became a cross dimensional time traveler ceased being exciting a long time ago." A tear coursed down one cheek. "I started out so excited by the possibilities, and I wasn't sad about trading away a normal life. But now—" she trailed off.

"I know," Nicole sighed. "When the fire and the wave came to my people, I expected to die with them. Instead I found myself wandering, with no one I could talk to you who would understand what had happened to me, how I was somehow cursed to walk the world, endlessly alone."

"And then we met." Waverly's eyes glowed with affection.

Nicole nodded, and tucked a stray curl behind her era. "And then we met. A lovely day in Rome as I recall."

"The centurians were a bit rowdy."

Nicole shrugged. "Soldiers on leave acting like idiots is one of the great constants of the world, I would think."

They laughed, then were quiet and content as the sun rose higher.

"I went back you know," Waverly said softly. She glanced quickly at Nicole's face before looking away again. "I saw what happened at Akrotiri and the surrounding islands. In all my travels I had never seen such a destructive volcano. An entire people, wiped out in one terrible day." She shuddered. "I tried to find you, but I didn't have enough time."

Nicole chuckled. "I wouldn't have known you then anyway."

"No," Waverly agreed. "But I thought I could have helped you, regardless." She leaned into taller woman, resting her head on Nicole's shoulder. "I think," she admitted softly. "I would do anything for you."

Nicole leaned her head against Waverly's, and took a shuddering breath. "I have to tell you. I realized that I'm glad you're going back."

Waverly jerked back in shock. Nicole merely smiled sadly. "If you could stay with me, you would age and eventually die. I wouldn't want to live without you, and I _can't_ die. So it's selfish, I know, but I'd rather see you like this and know I'll see you again someday. You're the only friend I've ever had. I can't lose that."

Waverly's expression was unreadable, but she nodded after a moment, staring hard at Nicole. "I… didn't think of that," she admitted finally. She bowed her hesd. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Nicole wrapped her arm around Waverly's shoulders. "I get far more time for thinking than you, my friend." With one last squeeze she rose. "Come!" she cried decisively. "Enough of this mournful drivel. Let's us end our time together on a happy note!"

Waverly allowed herself to be helped to her feet. "We can decide where next to meet I suppose."

"I think someplace interesting for your fascination with ancient peoples."

"Which you started by being the last Minoan in existence," Waverly pointed out.

Nicole waved this away. "Well, wait to you get to see what the Nazca left behind in South America…"

—

Nicole sat next to her campfire, pensively watching the sky. She had forgotten how beautiful the stars were when unsullied by civilization's light and promised herself she'd make her way into the wilderness more often. Above her the Milky Way glowed brightly and she idly let her eyes follow it along until she reached the Southern Cross constellation, pointing the way to the South Pole. She wondered if anybody would ever discover the carving she'd left of a Minoan bull on the summit of Mount Erebus back when she had passed as a young man on Shackleton's first Antarctic expedition. She had carved it herself on the long voyage south, feeling nostalgic for her youthful days in Akrotiri bull-leaping with the other teens of her city; she looked forward to someone finding it and losing their minds with the scientific implications.

"Fancy meeting you here."

Nicole grinned and sat up, but as she took in Waverly her smile faded. The smaller woman sat stiffly across from her, the fire highlighting the awkward way she held her arm and the fresh scrapes across the left side of her face. She smiled awkwardly at Nicole and shrugged.

"I know this will surprise you, but things don't always go as planned for me."

Nicole was at Waverly's side in a heartbeat, her hands gentle as she took inventory of the smaller woman's many wounds. "Oh honey, let me take care of this for you."

The red-head had trained with the finest healers at Knossos on the Isle of Crete long before that great city vanished beneath a mighty wave. She had augmented her training over several long millennia and always traveled with a carefully crafted medi-kit that allowed her to even do field surgeries in a pinch. It wasn't the first time Waverly had arrived in need of care, and Nicole realized wryly that over the centuries she had tailored her kit more or less specifically for her friend's usual medical needs; sometimes the journey through dimensions got a little rough.

Waverly hissed as Nicole discovered that her arm was in fact broken.

"Brace yourself."

"OW!" she screeched, then gritted through the rest of Nicole's ministrations. "I hate you."

"You love me."

"You wish."

The bone reset, Nicole set about wrapping the arm in a splint. Then she applied topical ointment and bandages to the numerous cuts and scrapes, her comments becoming more distressed.

"One of these days you're going to really damage yourself, and what's going to happen to you if I'm not there—"

"Nicole."

"Why you do such insane things—"

"Nicole."

"I swear I should lock you up in a—"

"NIKOLETA!"

They stared at each other — Nicole in shock, and Waverly in frustration.

Waverly ran her good hand through her hair, gathering her thoughts. "I need you to shut up. For a minute. I just… Shush, okay?"

Nicole melted at the vulnerable expression on her friend's face and rolled back to sit cross legged on her blanket.

Waverly took a deep breath. "I need to ask you something."

"Anything," Nicole said softly.

"You said you'd rather only see me for a day once or twice a year."

Nicole swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, it was sort of a shitty thing to say—"

"What if there was another choice?" Waverly interrupted, her cheeks suddenly blushing.

Nicole blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I've been… experimenting, and digging through all of my research and reviewing all of my records, and I realized something."

Nicole's eyes were wide, and she gestured quickly for Waverly to continue.

"When I'm inter-dimensional," she blew out her breath. "I _don't_ age. I only age if I spend too long outside my dimension. And, if I spend long enough without 'traveling'," she waved her hand and Nicole nodded; Waverly had long struggled to explain the process. "I think it even reverses."

Nicole's jaw dropped. "What?"

"I did the math. My body should be about middle aged, but my cells are actually younger then when I met you." Waverly shuffled closer. "I haven't admitted this, but I've pretty much stopped going any place else other than here — I spend the offtime recalibrating to come back, and looking for ways that I could stay longer, or even permanently. But now—" she trailed off, and the look of hopefulness on her face nearly caused Nicole to come undone.

"What about now, Waverly?" She asked, almost fearful of the answer.

Waverly took her hand, lacing their fingers together. "What if you could come with me instead?"

A log on the fire crackles loudly, but neither woman so much as twitched. Nicole scooted a little closer, her eyes never leaving Waverly's face.

"With you?" She asked finally.

Waverly nodded.

"Leave here. With you."

"Ye-es?" Waverly's face fell slightly, unable to read the inscrutable expression on her friend's face. "I did some testing and mmppph—"

She broke off as Nicole's lips found hers, so soft and warm and pliant. The fingers of her good hand slid up an arm and into that glorious red hair, pulling the taller woman harder against her. A part of lips, and their tongues touched each other, at first tentatively, then more fervently.

Finally Nicole pulled back, tugging briefly at Waverly's lower lip with her teeth. The smaller woman's eyes were still closed, but after a moment she opened them and smiled languidly, her eyes dark and full of love.

"You messed up my speech, Nic," she declared, her voice amused. "I was going to bring this subject up next."

"You're always late anyway," Nicole murmured, capturing her lips again briefly. "Damn, I've wanted to do that for about six centuries."

"Why didn't you?" Waverly asked curiously, then her face fell. "Oh. Because I couldn't stay."

"Because you couldn't stay," Nicole agreed.

Waverly looked up at her, her smile growing wider. "Soooo, does that mean you want to do this? With me? You'd leave your home?"

Nicole reached out and cupped her face. "You're my home, honey. You have been for two thousand years."

Waverly covered Nicole's hand with her own, then pulled it away and kissed her palm. "I do, you know."

"You do what?"

Waverly settled herself into Nicole's warm embrace, nuzzling into the soft flannel of her shirt. "I do love you."

Nicole's heart stuttered as she pressed her lips into Waverly's sweet smelling hair.

"I love you too."

—

Nicole's hands shook.

"Aww, you're nervous, how sweet." Waverly teased.

Nicole glared at her. "Like you wouldn't be nervous in my shoes."

Waverly kissed her cheek with a chuckle. "Sweetie, you've lived through two of the largest volcanic eruptions in history.

"Is it _my_ fault Krakatoa took that particular opportunity to erupt?"

"The rise and fall of countless civilizations."

Nicole shrugged. "You wait long enough, and they all fall eventually."

Waverly punched her lightly on the shoulder. "The Black Death."

"I looked good in that mask."

"Mmm, you did," Waverly agreed.

"Wait, did you go back and find me then too?"

Waverly merely winked. "You also survived the French Revolution, the Battle of Waterloo, and two world wars," she pointed out. "I think you can manage a little inter-dimensional jump with no problem."

Nicole's shoulders slumped. "Well, when you put it _that_ way—"

"Hold my hand."

As Nicole complied, Waverly took a shimmering cord from her pocket and wrapped it carefully around their hands.

"Don't let go, okay?" she said seriously, glancing up at Nicole. "This might feel a bit weird, but it never hurts going _back_."

Nicole swallowed but nodded. "I may never let go of your hands again."

Waverly grinned. "I might like that." She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips firmly against Nicole's. "See you on the other side."

"I hope so—hey, what's that?" Nicole peered hard in front of them.

A mirage-like shimmer grew in front of them, and Waverly let out the breath she'd been holding. "Oh good, you can see it. This is gonna work."

"You mean you weren't sure about—?" Nicole's yelp was cut off as they disappeared.

The remains of their campfire smoldered in the otherwise silent desert. A mouse scurried about the discarded blankets, gathering crumbs, then with a flick of its tail it leaped off the blanket and back into the safety of the scrub.

—

"Nic, are you okay?"

"Oh, oh, _Waverly_ ," Nicole breathed at the sight before her. Galaxies wheeled above the huge room in which they stood. A rumpled bed and a few chairs sat at one end, and a large mechanical device squatted on the opposite side, the machine Waverly used to travel across unimaginable reaches of time and distance. The walls were covered with shelves full of books and scrolls and uncountable artifacts from across the universe — knowledge and art acquired through Waverly's insatiable curiosity. The floor and ceiling of her 'room' were as glass; enormous windows overlooking the magnificence of swirling galaxies and massive interstellar gas clouds. "It's like nothing I imagined."

She turned and swooped Waverly into her arms, burying her face in Waverly's neck.

"I've wanted to share this with you for so long," Waverly whispered. "Now you're here."

Nicole lifted her head and pressed their foreheads together. "Now I'm home."


End file.
